What's in a name?

There's a lot in a person's name.  Some time ago, I skimmed through a book that dealt with the phenomenon of how our names often end up reflecting our personality, interests, or perhaps even outlook on life.  Perhaps some might think this has more to do with thinking along the lines of astrology and our 'signs'...But, I do think our names are deeply meaningful to our conscious and subconscious.  We are known to the world initially through our names.  Usually, before you know much about a person, you do know their name (or what they prefer to be called.)

As a person whose name is occasionally shortened, I've noticed that I react (inwardly, usually) when I'm called Val versus Valerie.  While my siblings occasionally call me Val, I have never introduced myself as Val, partly because I don't think I've ever identified with those three letters as my name...as "who I am."  I don't notice it with my siblings (perhaps because of a deep level of trust and long history that they Know Me), but I am often surprised when people, meeting me for the first time, refer to me as Val (even if I introduce myself as Valerie.)  I know that many times, it is because they may know someone else who shortens their name to Val, but I find that to be an unfair assumption.

On the surface, I realise this seems like a trivial topic.  But our names are these public things that we carry around with us wherever we go, and, as far as I know, everyone has names and so the conversation affects all of us!

I'm also aware that how we pronounce names is just as imperative as how many letters of a name we say. From the rarer names to the everyday names, there are so many different pronunciations, and yet to assume one way or another until you get it from the source, is again, unfair.  And should I mention spelling?  As much as "Val" gets my goat, so does "Valarie."  Gross.  That is not me.  (Though I'm sure it fits someone else very nicely.)

The moral of this mini-sermon:  It says a lot about how well you know someone when you address them with their preferred name, and pronounced correctly.  It says that you have let them define for you who they are or who they want to be, rather than needing your projection of them to define them. :)

Regardless of who we are, and what others call us, I am reminded of God's promise to the Israelites in Isaiah 49, "...look, I've written your names on the palms of my hands..."  We are known by God.  That is something to treasure.